16" ammunition bursting charge

16" ammunition bursting charge

I am very new to this forum and am grateful for finding it. From my questions, it will be obvious that I know very little about large naval rifles. For a
long time, I've wondered about the bursting charge of the 16" shells, both HC and AP. Under 200 pounds seems hardly enough to take out the shell
delivering it, much less a 35,000 to 50,000 ton armored ship. I would like to read the kind of charge and something of its destructive power. I have seen a
few pictures of the result of Massachusetts shooting Strasbourg and the photos are impressive. I have also read that during the Vietnam war, New Jersy
creating instant LZs with 16" HC rounds. All this destruction seems very impressive indeed with under 200 pounds of explosive. Thank you for your
information.

On the MK-7 we used 3 x 110 pound silk bags filled with smokeless black powder, this amount varied by the weight or type of round. Wagon guns use
"bag" type ammunition, as opposed to fixed (like the OTO Molera MK-75 for instance, 76MM, case and projo fixed together) or the semi fixed (like the
MK-45, seperate projo and powder can).

If that is of course what you were asking. Go toyoutube and type in battleship guns firing, there is a great video showing Missouri loading and firing.

Gunnersmate04 wrote:
Are you talking the black powder to expel the round?

On the MK-7 we used 3 x 110 pound silk bags filled with smokeless black powder, this amount varied by the weight or type of round. Wagon guns use
"bag" type ammunition, as opposed to fixed (like the OTO Molera MK-75 for instance, 76MM, case and projo fixed together) or the semi fixed (like
the MK-45, seperate projo and powder can).

If that is of course what you were asking. Go toyoutube and type in battleship guns firing, there is a great video showing Missouri loading and firing.

A small correction. The 16"/50 mark 7 normally used six bags, and they weren't filled with black powder.

thewaywardwind wrote:
I am very new to this forum and am grateful for finding it. From my questions, it will be obvious that I know very little about large naval rifles. For a
long time, I've wondered about the bursting charge of the 16" shells, both HC and AP. Under 200 pounds seems hardly enough to take out the shell
delivering it, much less a 35,000 to 50,000 ton armored ship. I would like to read the kind of charge and something of its destructive power. I have seen a
few pictures of the result of Massachusetts shooting Strasbourg and the photos are impressive. I have also read that during the Vietnam war, New Jersy
creating instant LZs with 16" HC rounds. All this destruction seems very impressive indeed with under 200 pounds of explosive. Thank you for your
information.

Gunnersmate...You're referring to the charge in the breech to send the projectile on its way. I'm asking about the explosive charge contained in the
projectile and its power at the target. Captain Cee J posted a link with some great photos of the guns being fired and some section drawings showing the
bursting charge. The link describes creating a helicopter landing zone 200 yards in diameter by knocking down trees using only a single HC shell. It seems
that this is a lot of destruction from less than 200 lbs. of explosive charge. What kind of explosive is used? It surely can't be black powder.

Listen, guys, I appreciate the answers y'all gave me. Thank you for taking the time to educate me.

Just a slight correction. Massachusetts never fought Strasbourg. It was the French BB Jean Bart she took out of the war. JB was pretty much as new and modern a
design as Big Mamie was, at the time. JB was still under constrruction, but had one operational quad 15" turret that was firing in the US Naval center TF
as well as some of (then) MGen. Patton's troops. This was the Battle of Casablanca and the operation was Operation Torch.

I just didn't want BOBC 59 to get on you over that. BOBC 59 was a crewmember and plank owner abaord the USS Massachusetts since her building,
commissioning, and war record. He is very loyal to his BATTLESHIP and is still her biggest fan.

Black powder was the ignition charge all bags had a quilt of small amount black powder sewn on the end of each bag of powder that was the ignition for the stick powder and they were packed wet with ether!NUFF SAIDBOB

...For those that fought for it,Freedom has a taste and meaning,The protected will never know!

Was the Mk. 23 shell designed, and fused for an air burst at some altitude above the target, or was it intended to duse when striking the ground/target? Both the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs were air burst bombs, detonating just under 2,000' above the target.

HC's were known to do alot of damage in the Island of Honsho in fact they did clear a lot of lanscape in the gilbert and other Islands too "MAMIE" used both kinds thru out the pacific campain some of the pill boxes were of reinforced concrete so the super heavies were needednuff saidbob

...For those that fought for it,Freedom has a taste and meaning,The protected will never know!

BOBC 59 wrote:HC's were known to do alot of damage in the Island of Honsho in fact they did clear a lot of lanscape in the gilbert and other Islands too "MAMIE" used both kinds thru out the pacific campain some of the pill boxes were of reinforced concrete so the super heavies were needednuff saidbob

Of course very true, but i was just referring to the jungle flattening with one bomb..